Street Photography first started out as people painting images on a canvas but now it has adapted since cameras have come out and now Street Photography is where you capture every day life using a camera (normally) without people knowing and by being discreet.
Here are some photos i found to be interesting:
I found this image interesting because the photographer has timed the photo so the woman was between the edge of the comnposition and the riad sign. This photo has a shallow depth of field as the signage is in focus and the road in the background isnt in focus.
here the photographer has taken the photo just before the couple walke through the main part of the smoke. something else that caught my eye was the two people on the right hand side are wearing the same coloured jackets as the couple on the left. also the shadows are perfectly positioned on the middle of the backs of the people.
How To Find Your Own Luck In Street Photography
In Street Photography you can create your own luck by being aware of you surroundings, visualising a composition before you have been able to take the photo and finally you have to wait for the perfect time to take the photo.
Henri Cartier Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French artist and humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film.
My Favorite Quote
“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment.”
What i think this quote means is where ever you are and whatever you are doing there will always be an opportunity to take a good photo.
Visual Annalysis Of Bresson
Here Bresson has frames the image so the person is in the centre of the composition. he has used natural lines to draw the viewer’s eye into the centre.
Bresson would have had to pre visualise the bike passing by to take the photo at the decisive moment so he could capture the man on the bike directly in between the railings and the wall. i also like the way he has framed the photo as it looks like the tsairs are supposed to be leading our eyes to the bike
decisive moment
My Decisive Moment
I didn’t realise this was a good photo until i looked back on it. I focused on the man who was framed perfectly in the doorway whilst climbing out of the van but as it was through a window there was also some reflections.
Take Away Point
the final outcome of the photos help us view the world in a more realistic way as you cant re live the same moment twice and you are taking pictures as the world keeps on going which means there is also room for faliure but on the other hand you may also get a really good photo.
Inside cover | 1 Blank black
2 Lamppost + pigeon (FB) | 3 Quote page
4 Blank – black page | 5 Pigeon silhouette (LG)
6 Blank black page | 7 Introduction black, white writing
8 Blank | 9 Section title — Shadow as Presence
10 Underpass cyclist with colour (FB) | 11 Blank black page
12–13 Lady with suitcase (DS — full bleed across spread)
14 Underpass arch B&W (FB) | 15 Tower Bridge seated + diagonal shadow (LG)
16 Bridge blurred bus (Pair) | 17 Stairs with blurred figures (Pair)
18 Tower bridge people below walking (LG) | 19 Bus close up abstract (LG)
20 Walking corridor 2 people walking away (LG) | 21 Section title Black Page — Shadow as Interaction
22 Graffiti wall crop use hooded painter (FB) | 23 Female painter cropped (LG)
24 Red jumper painter (FB) | 25 Hooded painter (LG)
26 Landscape burger man (LG) | 27 Bread stall (FB)
28 Cake seller on phone (LG) | 29 Cooking smoke face with shadows (FB)
30 Mushroom man (LG) | 31 Market purchase lady hands (LG)
32 Blank black page | 33 Section title – Shadow as Structure
34 Zig-zag fence (Pair) | 35 Stair rail shadows school (Pair)
36 Church + fence abstraction (LG) | 37 Blank black
38 Lloyds shaft B&W (FB) | 39 Gherkin B&W with shadows (LG)
40 B&W Tower Bridge (FB) | 41 London Bridge underside (FB)
42 Shard framed B&W (FB) | 43 1st image interesting shadows on buildings crop and lose light band at the top (LG)
44 Final outcome for interesting shadows on buildings (FB) | 45 Buildings B&W reflections in windows abstracted (LG)
46 Blank black page| 47 Section title black page – Shadow as Reflection
48 Wet bus reflection (FB) | 49 Walking reflections 3 people (LG)
50 Puddle with people in background (PS) | 51 puddle reflection people tree and building (PS)
52 Distorted towers reflection (FB) | 53 Blank black page
54 Flipped puddle building reflection (FB) | 55 Water shimmer Thames abstract (LG)
56 Blank black page | 57 Section title black page – Shadow as Atmosphere
58 Busy night crossing street (FB) | 59 Porsche front portrait with shops behind (FB)
60–61 Night empty street + rear Porsche (DS FB)
62 Wheel detail (Pair) | 63 Wheel detail (Pair)
64 Porsche badge (LG) | 65 Ferrari side image (FB)
66 Ferrari rear (LG) | 67 Section title black – Shadow as Abstraction
68 Window with silhouette and metal work (FB) | 69 Looking up B&W (LG)
70 – 71 Diamond Binet (DS FB)
72 City metalwork across top (LG) | 73 Plantation building green in it (FB)
74 Blank black page | 75 End quote black page white writing
“From shadow, structure emerges”
– Oli Daws
76–77 Tower Bridge framed by railings closing image (DS)
78 Black end page | Back cover
Letizia Battaglia
Letizia Battaglia was born in Sicily in 1935, she began her photography career in the early 1970s. Letizia Battaglia photographed the Sicilian mafia from 1974. throughout her time documenting the mafia’s effects they had on the locals she received multiple death threats.
this photo is an example of how close letizia got to the mafia and how dangerous. this reminds us that it wasn’t only adults who were affected and this photo uncovers that sad truth.
Why did she document the mafias crimes?
i belive she documented the mafia not only because she enjoyed taking the photos but also because she wanted to be noticed which deemed to be difficult as Italy was male dominant.
How does Battaglia’s use of composition contribute to the emotional intensity of her photographs?
Battaglia fills up the frame with the main focus of the photo. the images also tend to be taken at eye level so it appears to the viewer as if they are looking at the harsh reality of Italy in the 1900s
Exploring Her Creative Process
i dont think Battaglia pre visualised her photos as she probably didnt know what was going to happen or what she was going to stumble upon. she also had to be careful to not get hurt herself.
most of Battaglias photos are taken to show emotion and tension for example the image above of the child with the gun has a lot of emotion behind it.
Photography and Social Change
the role of the journalist is to to the world the harsh reality of what is happening in the world whether it includes putting themselves in danger or watching other people being harmed.
TAKEAWAY POINT
her approach to photography was to take a step back and watch what was going on around her which was how she was able to capture so many valuable photos.
My Photos
Playing With Fire
for these photos i used a slow shutter speed to give the effect that the light is being dragged and stretched. I wasn’t waiting for anything in particular to happen i was just spraying and praying.
Fireworks
Portraits
CAMERA SETTINGS:
SHUTER SPEED: 1/25
APERTURE: 2.5
ISO: 200
When I captured this photo i was waiting near a bus stop and i pre visualised someone walking past however this image is actually of the man leaning on the glass.
Phones
CAMERA SETTINGS:
SHUTER SPEED: 1/250
APERTURE: 5.6
ISO: 500
I took this photo of a street performer in london when he was looking at his phone i find this photo intersestig because he looks angry.
For this Photo i pre visualised ad waited for the man to walk in between the two displays however i didn’t know he was going to check his watch which is something i personally think makes the photo better.
Remembrance Day
Pick out a couple of photographs which you think are interesrting. Explain what makes them interesting, this might be something to do with composition, subjects, chance, your approach, reminds you of another street photographers work?
The thing that makes this image interesting is that the man is in the centre of the composition and he is walking. my approach to this was to wait until he walked into frame so i could take the photo. This photography style reminds me of Phil Penman as the subject is central.
Evaluation of my photobook – From Shadows to Structure
For my Component 2 I decided to choose Shadow as my topic and to respond to this quote by Louis Kahn, “The purpose of light is to create shadows. Shadows exist to create emotions.” This quote has shaped the way I have approached the whole project, initially it made me think about shadow in terms of atmosphere, contrast and mood within street photography. As my work developed my ideas moved beyond shadow as something emotional or descriptive and more towards shadow as something that reveals form and structure, this led to my own response, “From shadow, structure emerges.”
Researching artists was a big part of how the project developed. Fan Ho influenced the way I thought about shadows as subjects in themselves, while Saul Leiter made me think more about reflections, layering and atmosphere. Ezra Stoller and Binet were important in shaping my architectural images and more abstract structural studies, while László Moholy-Nagy and Paul Strand made me think about geometry and reducing subjects into simpler graphic forms. Andreas Gursky was especially influential in the way he uses repetition, scale and structure, and he made me think about photographs as part of a larger visual system rather than just isolated images. This has influenced some of my sequencing and the way I have approached the structural and abstraction sections. Looking at artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Harold Cazneaux, Prokos and Pavone has also expanded my understanding of atmosphere, abstraction and sequencing.
Talk about Shard image not working to start with and persevering to get it correct include screen shots
For my 15 hour exam I decided to make a photobook to explore the progression, from shadow as atmosphere and emotion towards shadow as a way of revealing form, structure and abstraction. This has shaped both the photographs I have taken and the way I have sequenced them into my book. Rather than presenting separate images, I wanted the book to function as a complete visual journey.
Throughout my project I have experimented with a range of photographic approaches and processes, working in both colour and black and white, using reflections, motion blur, strong contrast, cropping and abstraction, as well as photographing in different lighting conditions, rain and night scenes. I was interested in how shadow could be explored not just through subject matter but through composition and form. I didn’tinitially see the book design as part of the experimentation, but by using full bleed images, paired spreads, black pages and quieter single-image layouts I have also been able to express my ideas through pacing and sequence.
Talk about cropping masked painter and wall crop or water shimmer or both for photo book include before and after images
The hardest part of the process was choosing which images to include. I had a much larger number of images than I could possibly use, and I have intentionally left out several sections of my work. I have found editing and sequencing much more challenging than taking the photographs themselves. Many images worked well individually but disrupted the rhythm of the book. I now realise that editing is as much about removal as inclusion, and that structure in my book has emerged through refining, sequencing and reduction, this also unexpectedly echoes my own quote.
Organising my work into sections: Shadow as Presence, Interaction, Structure, Reflection, Atmosphere andAbstraction has helped me to focus and develop my response to Kahn’s quote. I wanted my work to move gradually from more observational images of people and urban shadows into increasingly architectural and abstract photographs. I am pleased that the structure of my book mirrors this conceptual progression.
Sequencing for my book became a major part of my project. I decided to print my images onto paper and spent a lot of time moving them around, testing pairings and thinking about how one photograph leads into another. During this process I had originally decided to use one of my own images for my book cover, but my idea changed and I decided to use a black cover to represent shadow. I realised then that black could function as more than a design decision and become part of the conceptual language of my project.
Include screen shots of rear Ferrari and pigeon lamppost as original ideas for cover and then screen shot black pages and book cover .
This idea led me to use black pages for all my section title pages and the blank pause pages throughout the entire book. These pages have become important as moments of stillness, they also represent shadows themselves, becoming part of the visual language of the photobook rather than simply being empty spaces. This decision has helped to strengthen the rhythm and pacing of my image sequence as I wanted my book to feel almost cinematic, with moments of intensity balanced by quieter, more minimal images. I have used Lightroom’s Book module to make my photobook, and this has also made sequencing a practical part of my experimentation.
Include screen shots of some different pages (Layouts) from photobook
One of the biggest things I have learnt from this project is the value of restraint. Some photographs I really liked had to be removed because they repeated ideas or weakened the sequence. Although very difficult, this has made my final book stronger. Through this process I also began to see my photobook not just as a container for photographs, but as a form in itself.
I am pleased with how the final book communicates my response to Kahn’s quote, particularly through the movement from emotional, atmospheric shadows towards structural and abstract images. Repeated themes of geometry, reflection and darkness create continuity across the sections and help the project feel unified as a complete response.
If I developed the project further, I would definitely experiment with printed mock-ups earlier, as seeing the work physically has helped me to make stronger decisions about sequencing and pacing. I feel this project has developed my understanding of editing, sequencing and photobook design, and has shown me how meaning can emerge not only through individual images, but also through the structure created between them.